bigFORTH

bigFORTH is a native code Forth. It is available for Linux and Windows
2000/XP under GPL. The most striking feature is the graphical user
interface MINOS (GUI in Forth) and the form editor Theseus (Theseus is
still beta). These are the other features of bigFORTH:

Powerful compiler: bigFORTH is a 32 bit system. The compiler
generates optimized native code for the i386. You can create turnkey
applications for sure. bigFORTH fully complies to ANS Forth.

Extensive libraries: extensive and comfortable file interface
(with definitions for the most common Unix commands) ease work even on
a big hard disk. System calls and linkage to dynamic libraries are
supported. Printer support for listings and session protocols; fast
and accurate FP-arithmetics, a "state of the art" memory management,
that doesn't capitulate from complex memory structures, graphical user
interface (MINOS GUI), object oriented Forth and more...

Transparency: All sources, including kernel and target
compiler in the standard distribution, give the Forth wizard
everything they want.

Modular Forth: bigFORTH is modulary. Separate compilation
is possible, small applications are easy to create. Modules have no
arbitrary limit in size.

bigFORTH was originally developed on the Atari ST for the Motorola 68k
processor. Later, I ported it to the Intel 386, running under a DOS
extender (GO32). These products are commercial; they have extensive
documentation. For historical reasons, you can download the latest
bigFORTH-ST (442k) version here.

MINOS

MINOS is a graphic user interface (GUI)
for X, written for bigFORTH-Linux and bigFORTH-Win32. It includes a
rapid GUI developement editor (Theseus).

MINOS is available under the GPL, not the LGPL. I want to stress that
this means you cannot develop applications with it that are not either
under the GPL, or distributed seperately as sources, just as with
other GPLed libraries (for example, readline). For people wanting to
develop applications with it that are under different licencing
conditions, a commercial licence is
available at request so that MINOS can be a choice for proprietary
systems, too. I'll certainly give major contributors a fair share.

Release policy

The release policy is now a pretty fixed and reliable schedule: A new
minor release comes out once per year, usually in the window between
new year and Forth Tagung, and is followed by urgend fixes if
necessary. The development activity is released early and often in
the subversion repository.

Download

Download the current bigFORTH+MINOS (pre-beta on Windows) release
now (includes bigFORTH for Linux or Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000). The
packages are signed with my PGP key.

Linux version

The package is split up into five parts. You need source and
documentation for start, the other packets are either optional or for
convenience. To unpack it, unpack all the files from the same
directory. They all unpack into the subdirectory bigforth. cd there
and type make, to create the rest. Type make install if you want a
system-wide installation. You can use the configure script
( ./configure --prefix=your path) to let it install in another
path. Note that bigFORTH now is for glibc based systems only, because
I want to force you to upgrade. You might be able to compile for libc5
using an old version, but I don't encourage you to do so.

Source (sig): This is
sufficient for a minimal installation, and also for frequent
updates. Just unpack it over your old MINOS source tree and type
make to compile the new things. Last change: 22mar2010, rev. 2.4.0.

German Documentation: This is the (partly
outdated) documentation, most of it in German. Last change: 09feb2003.

I packed these tar archives with
bzip2, to save you download time
(except that you need to install bzip2 - if you don't have it
already). The signature fires allow you to check the integrity of the
files with gpg --verifysignature.

Windows version

Big Red Warning Label: This is beta code. It still may crash. It
is not supposed to do this, but bugs happen. If you find one,
please report it. The Windows version is still looking for a
maintainer who helps to get the bugs out.

Windows Package (2128k):
An autoinstalling package for those who don't have decided to switch
to Linux yet. Includes everything you want on Windows. Unpack with a
doubleclick. Uninstall before installing the next verion,
please. Don't even try it on Windows 9x/ME. Last change: 22mar2010, rev 2.4.0.